Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Sen. Rusty Crowe

Tennessee is actively fighting back against DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) policies at the state level, aligning with changes we hope will continue at the federal level under President Trump’s leadership.

This year, we passed four key pieces of legislation to eliminate DEI mandates from state and local governments, as well as from our public universities.

First, we prohibited universities from making admission, scholarship or financial aid decisions based on race, color, ethnicity or national origin.

Second, we barred universities and local governments from considering race, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability when making hiring decisions.

Third, we prevented higher education institutions and local governments from maintaining offices or departments that promote or require discriminatory preferences under the banner of advancing DEI initiatives.

Fourth, we ended race-based selection for membership on state regulatory and health-related boards.

Everyone deserves an equal opportunity to succeed based on merit — their abilities and hard work — not on fulfilling a DEI mandate tied to race, color, sex or national origin. This is just good, common-sense legislation that promotes fairness, efficiency and merit in our universities and in our government.

The legislation we passed this year is just the beginning. We will continue working to root out DEI policies in every corner of government, education and healthcare to protect our citizens and ensure Tennessee remains a place where merit, fairness and individual achievement — not identity politics — guide public policy.

To ensure accountability, the Tennessee comptroller and other agencies will audit compliance with these laws on an annual basis.

We are committed to keeping Tennessee a state where opportunity is earned through hard work and ability — and where every individual is valued for what they bring to the table.

Sen. Rusty Crowe
Chair, Senate Health and Welfare Committee
Member, Governor’s Armed Forces Veterans and Their Families Council